Does one size fit all? As a consumer, this must drive you bonkers. You must be thinking with all this big data and deep data dives companies can do to facilitate an “A-B” conversation, why does this rarely happen? How many times do you open up an email advertisement that has nothing to do with your interest?
Recently, I was interviewed by Marketo to gather my take on using big data to find big love. Here is what I had to say:
Deepak Gupta (@dgupta5150), who blogs at Marketing By Deepak and is a Marketing Automation Consultant at Autodesk, agrees that you must look carefully at your results in order to target the customers that you want, and to communicate with them in a way they will appreciate and respond favorably to.
“It is extremely important to truly understand, using deep dive data analysis, the segmentation and persona that resonates within each channel,” says Gupta. “With that understanding, one can message according to that particular channel. For instance, social media channels like Twitter and Facebook may attract students or younger professionals, whereas LinkedIn may attract more B2B decision makers.”
Every year, hundreds of companies begin search for marketing automation software, but with so many options out there, it’s no easy task to find the right software fit. That’s why Software Advice released their 2014 Marketing Automation Software BuyerView. The research report uncovers the top features buyers want in a system, the most active marketing automation buyer segments and reasons buyers are seeking a new solution. Check out the infographic below to see their findings.
Brought to you by Marketing Automation Software by Marketo
Good question! RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication; however, what does this mean in nonprofessional terms?
Think of the old days when you used to have your morning coffee and scan through the front page of the newspaper. Often you would see a headline burst followed by a couple of paragraphs and then the rest of the article would be located in the back pages.
Now that we are in a digital age, most blogs offer the option to a free RSS subscription allowing you to check your “front page” inbox for new articles and updates all on one screen. If you want to choose articles (blog posts) to read based on your chosen interests, you now have online convenience.
Click here for a short tutorial on how to use RSS in Google Reader. Think of your RSS Feed as a side-by-side email inbox based on your tastes.
Posted by Deepak Gupta
Tags: Deepak Gupta, Deepak Gupta LinkedIn, Deepak Gupta marketing, Deepak Gupta social media, dgupta5150, Marketing by Deepak, Marketing by Deepak Gupta, MarketingbyDeepak.com, SEO Tips by Deepak Gupta, Social Media by Deepak Gupta, Social Media Marketing by Deepak Gupta, Tips by Deepak, Tips by Deepak Gupta, Twitter Marketing by Deepak Gupta, what is RSS
Call it the 1 page Solo Sheet, Resume Companion or Networking Sheet. Tim Tyrell-Smith’s post at TimsStrategy.com inspired me to do this after many years of working without a great mentor to guide me through my career.
I can’t recall how many times people would suggest that I apply to companies that did not fit my persona. I would attend a networking event, the woman next to me is trying to be nice by telling me that I should work for a bank and go on, and on about it until I ask her “What do you know about working for companies like Google or MTV?”
The conversation stopped and she said to me, I have no idea about those industries – I only know banking. The point here is that you could speak to someone – a recruiter or someone you are networking with and they will suggest what has worked for them. The caveat here is what works for me will not always work for you.
Instead of getting frustrated and feeling as if people do not understand what your dream companies or industries are – make it simple for them and use the Solo Sheet.
The Solo Sheet is a 1 pager that highlights your work history, accomplishments and shows where you want to be. Guess what, you get to express where you want to go with your career with this tool.
Believe me, when you show the Solo Sheet to people within your network, you simplify things for them and they won’t suggest jobs or companies that would not even cross your mind. The Solo Sheet eliminates distraction.
Please feel free to add comments or ask questions. If you want to see an example, I will be more than happy to provide mine. This is about you!
Click here to contact me.
Tags: Career, Changing Careers, Employment, Google, MTV, MTV News, Tim Tyrell-Smith
Believe it or not, you do not actually need a business degree in order to succeed in the world of business. There are so many ways to do business these days that all you really need is a willingness to learn the industry you choose. Below are five ways that you can succeed in marketing without having a business degree.
1 – Develop an artistic skill
Marketing today is visual. People need marketers who know how to draw, use programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator and use the new 3D technologies that are making old marketing visuals completely obsolete. You can get the education that you need from Art Education Graduate Programs. Being able to bring this skills to the table is something all employers are looking for.
2 – Be willing to work the streets
All marketing departments suffer from the same weakness: no closers. If you are a closer, then you will be a hero. All marketers believe that they are too good to close or be the “salesperson”; however, these people are much more easily let go when it is time to cut back on expenses.
Do what you have to in order to bring the money into the business and you will be respected by the only person that matters: the person who signs the paycheck. Every department of a company has different skills a duties, but being able to have the added skill of bring money into the company is something that every employer looks for and make you an invaluable asset to the company.
3 – Have the right connections
Marketing is 20% what you can do and 80% who you know. If you are the person who can get the project into the right hands, then all of a sudden you become much more important than anyone else on the team. Make sure that you cultivate relationships with decision-makers within your industry so that your employer knows that you are the person who can deliver after all of the soft artistic work gets done. You definitely do not need a business degree in order to be friendly to people and collect business cards and contacts.
4 – Learn the art of speaking
The number one fear of most people, including marketers, is still public speaking. If you are a good public speaker, then you have an advantage over 95% of the people who are trying to get a job in the field of marketing. Cultivate the skill to fearlessly be your best professional self in front of a group and you will find yourself employed before you know what hit you.
5 – Get the grunt work done
If you have administrative skills such as an extremely fast eye for editing, then you are of great importance to a marketing department. Marketers can hardly afford to have a misspelled word or bad grammar within a presentation. They will learn to rely on you as the last man standing.
Being multifaceted in the workplace these days is one of the greatest skills you can bring to the table. And that doesn’t mean that going to school and getting a degree is the only way to accomplish this. Gaining the skills to back up what department you work for is what every company is looking for a it usually comes down to saving or making the company money. Invest in your skills and become a true asset for any company and success will follow.
Tags: Marketing, marketing advice, marketing career, marketing tips
Although there are a variety of professional ventures and business projects that require excellent marketing skills in order to attain success, running a successful campaign is a task in which having great advertising strategies is particularly important. This is the case for several reasons, including the fact that spreading information regarding a candidate to large audiences is often the factor that precipitates success during an election. Even a campaign for a charity or event needs to be well advertised. If you are running a campaign and want to learn how to spread the word about your candidate as efficiently as possible, the following strategies can be of great use to you.
E-mail Newsletters
E-mail newsletters are a great way to spread the word about your campaign. Many people use e-mail, and sending people a newsletter gives your campaign the opportunity to provide the public with important information regarding your candidate or charity. There are several ways you can get people to sign up for an e-mail newsletter, such as including a Sign Up widget in a conspicuous place on your website or blog.
Social Media
Like e-mail newsletters, social media can be an excellent medium through which to share information regarding your event. There are a variety of ways that this can be done, such as tweeting information about it through Twitter. You can also tweet links to website pages that offer your viewers more information regarding your candidate’s views on important political issues. Also consider using Facebook as a medium through which you interact with voters and share information regarding what your candidate’s goals and values are.
Free Contests With Promotional Prizes
Holding free contests with promotional prizes is a wonderful way for you to spread the word about your campaign. People enjoy having fun and receiving free gifts, and hosting a free contest can help you provide the public with both of these things. When you run your contest, be sure to give away promotional prizes such as t-shirts, coffee mugs, and pencils. These promotional prizes will help you spread the word about your campaign to even more people.
YouTube Video
Creating a YouTube video through which you share important information regarding your campaign with the public is a great idea. At this time, YouTube receives more than 1 billion unique visitors to its website each month. This and other statistics indicate that YouTube is an incredibly popular medium through which people from all walks of life are going to attain information or be entertained. Since this is the case, consider putting together an interesting, informative video regarding your candidate so that you can effectively spread the word about your campaign.
Direct Mail Advertising
Although social media channels have become a very effective and positive medium through which to share information and ideas, direct mail remains an excellent way to accomplish this same purpose. For this reason, you should definitely consider launching a direct mail campaign to help promote your candidate. These days, the rise of Every Door Direct Mail means that you can mail your campaign information to every home within your area at a discounted rate. There are a variety of professional direct mail services that you could use for further assistance in your direct mail advertising efforts, such as those offered by Star Direct Mail.
Although you may think that spreading the word regarding your campaign will be difficult or impossible, it doesn’t have to be. By implementing some or all of the strategies listed above, you can have profound success in communicating with the public regarding your candidate of choice. Good luck!
Tags: Advertising, Business, campaign, Company, Marketing
For start-up companies, or companies with a watchful eye on the budget, the funding of marketing campaigns can be difficult at times. A lack of good advertising can be frustrating for any business. Whe you need to spread the word, but lack the cash to get started, here are a few simple ideas to help fund marketing efforts.
Trade
Bartering and trade are one of the oldest forms of commerce around. When purchasing products or services for a marketing campaign, exchanging your own products or services is not uncommon. A restaurant, for example, might trade meals in exchange for airtime on a local radio station.
Sell
For companies who have a surplus of any kind, this is the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. In the case of a business that has office equipment, or electronics that are simply taking up valuable storage space, selling those items to other businesses will go a long way towards funding a marketing campaign.
Borrow
There is nothing wrong with borrowing money to finance advertising efforts. Although it might be considered a risk by some, the idea is that the marketing efforts will offer a substantial return on the investment. Short-term payday loans are the perfect example. Using a convenient service like PowerFinanceTexas.com, business owners can easily get their hands on quick cash.
Charge It
This might be the least popular of all the available options, but it will serve to pay for any marketing efforts that are needed to help a growing business. Whether it’s a cash advance, or purchasing promotional products or services, credit cards will do the trick as long as they are paid off in a timely manner.
Co-op Advertising
Depending on the particular business, co-op advertising is the perfect way to fund an advertising campaign. A furniture store might advertise a brand of sofa in the local newspaper. The manufacturer of that sofa will actually pay for the advertisement if the business owner simply follows their advertising guidelines. In most cases, there will be a certain percentage of advertising space that is available for the retailer to use in any way they choose.
Finding methods to fund a business is the true definition of the entrepreneurial spirit. There is always a way to make a plan come to life no matter how difficult it might seem. Putting in that extra effort, when most people would throw in the towel, is what separates driven entrepreneurs from the rest of the pack.
Tags: Advertising, Business, Company, Marketing
When your business gets in a rut, it can take a toll on your company in its entirety. And once you get on that downward course, it can seem impossible to shake the idea of immanent failure. However, failure isn’t always the only option. Instead, there are plenty of ways to break those bad habits and turn things around. Here are six ways to improve the outlook for a failing business and get back on the right track.
Change The Mindset
It sounds simple, but keep in mind that everything starts at the top and trickles down. If you are the leader of your business, you need to stay motivated and keep things looking positive in order to have a successful business. The more that you stay positive about a situation, the more likely those that work under you will do the same. However, if your employees can see that you are not feeling positive about the outlook of the company, that too is likely to spread like wildfire throughout the company. Change the mindset of your company, and get everyone back on the positive track.
Evaluate Your Options
When you become a business owner it’s easy to become driven by the idea that got you to where you are. However, what worked at one time, may not continue to work in the future. Therefore, it is important to evaluate your options and keep your mind open. If you can see what options you can have, you can change your path.
Change Your Products or Services
Speaking of changing your path, that might include changing your products or services all together. What might have been relevant when you first got started, may be outdated or a dead industry. Therefore, it is important to become relevant again. To do that, consider what is popular and how you can use your company’s name to make the most of that particular new industry. You’ll also want to consider new ways of marketing that you have never tried before, like social media or seo.
Take A Pay Cut
If your business became successful, it is likely that you started seeing some serious paychecks come in that made your life a bit more comfortable. However, it’s important that if things start to look dreary, you are willing to take a pay cut in order to make the best of your business. If things get even more dire, you may need professional help to get your business out of debt, but how do credit repair services work? It is vital that you don’t let financial instability become a major issue with what will happen to your business.
Practice Better Business Principles
One reason that your business might be failing is due to your business practices. The way that people perceive you and what they think about your business says a lot in regards to the success that you’ll have. Therefore it is vital that you keep good business principles to follow. In doing this allow, you can garner respect from your customers, which can do a lot for the future of your business.
Stay Motivated
Once you find your way out of the slump, it is highly important that you stay motivated in the future. Keep in mind the problems that you came across when your business started to fail. That memory and the feeling that you had, should be enough to keep you going to assure that you never get back to that point. If you stay motivated, you’ll be sure that the history won’t repeat itself with the potential of your business falling apart.
Tags: Business
Early in the morning on January 2nd, you woke up with and allowed yourself a great big stretch. Chances are, it was the first day of work for you this year. While some of your New Year’s resolutions might go unfulfilled, you do want to be sure to create a proper budget for this year. How can you plan your business budget for 2014?
Review Last Year’s Financial Errors
First of all, you need to review where you went wrong last year. Going through the budget to see where you overspent or where you did not allocate enough funds is crucial. Even if your financial records are pretty sound, you probably have one or two areas where you can improve upon. Using past mistakes, errors or tribulations to strengthen your company now is wise.
Focus on The Positives Too
Of course, you don’t want to just dig up the places where you went wrong this past year. You also want to look at the glories and successes of 2013. These will show you what you are doing correctly in terms of finances. You want to continue to implement these plans, and you will be able to make the methods you used even better. At this point, you have reviewed all that you have done in the past and sorted out what you want to continue doing and what is in need of a major makeover.
Hire a Professional
Going through your own financial statements is not an easy task. In fact, it can be difficult to pull yourself away from the figures and put a value on them. Working with a professional company such as Power Finance of Texas can help you to gain a better perspective on your situation. An outside, professional view is often all it takes to get you on the right track.
Create a Finance Department
If you’re looking to makeover your company finances and you don’t have a department specifically dedicated to this task, then you aren’t on the right track. Every company needs to have a financial department. If your business is too small to have an entire department or team dedicated to the task, then you should at least have a company accountant or someone who is in charge of financial matters. This person can ensure continuous evaluation of your budget.
Creating a strong budget is a necessity for any business, and these tips will help you to make 2014 the best year yet.
Small businesses comprise the majority of U.S. employers, accounting for over 75% of all companies. While most thrive and have success for many years, others struggle and often fail within the first year. There are many reasons why a business fails, but one way to avoid having that happen is to gain a good understanding of the role marketing plays in small business success. When it comes to local marketing resources for small businesses, there are several from which to choose.
Radio Stations
Many small businesses fail to realize the impact local radio stations have on their marketing campaigns. According to Marketing Exchange, the Nielsen ratings company reports the average consumer spends about 14 hours each week tuned in to the radio, making it the second-most popular media after television. By working with an account executive to create a great advertising campaign, local radio can be a smart investment for any business.
Chamber of Commerce
Joining the local Chamber of Commerce can lead to numerous networking opportunities within the local business community. Attending meetings, participating in charity events and more will help any local business build a solid reputation within the community.
Free Giveaways
Many businesses introduce themselves to their customers by giving away free samples during an open house event or conducting drawings for door prizes and other gifts. These are often seen as great ways to build customer loyalty while establishing the business as one offering friendly service and low prices.
Press Releases
Despite newspapers having declining numbers of subscribers, they are nevertheless still very popular in many local areas. The hometown newspaper is seen as a way to connect with local customers, and writing a press release is a free way for a business to get itself in front of thousands of people at once. Often, sending in a press release will lead to the paper wanting to write a full-length feature story about the owner and their business. This not only helps to personalize the owner and business, but also provides much more free publicity.
The competition for customers is incredibly intense in today’s business world, and small businesses within a local area are often vying for the same customers. What can set one apart from another can be something as slight as a catchy slogan, a free giveaway or simply a friendly smile when a customer walks inside the store. Whatever the case may be, using these marketing resources will help any small business succeed.
Tags: chamber of commerce, press releases, promotions, radio marketing, small business marketing